“It can be very challenging for employers to meet all the reporting and eligibility requirements of the Affordable Care Act,” said Summer Hamilton, vice president of sales for BeneTrac. “Our new ESR Services will help employers meet these new and complex reporting requirements, as well as save them time, frustration, and potentially expensive penalties related to ACA noncompliance.”

The following ESR tools are available to businesses using the BeneTrac system:

ESR Modeling allows the benefit administrator to set up measurement, administrative, and stability periods for employee records to test and validate which approach will work best for them.

Full-time Employee Analysis provides the ability to view and monitor employee statuses and determine who is deemed a full-time employee based on their measurement, administrative, and stability periods.

Full-time Employee Analysis Management provides the ability to view current employees, their ESR full-time or part-time status, and their offered benefit coverage.

Coverage Adequacy Analysis helps the employer determine the adequacy of their health care coverage by evaluating if it provides Minimum Essential Coverage, Minimum Actuarial Value, and is deemed to be affordable based on the methods outlined in the ESR provisions.

Forms 1094-C and 1095-CService, an offering for joint clients of BeneTrac and Paychex, the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C Service prepares and files the new, complex tax required for 2015. For BeneTrac clients not working with Paychex as their designated payroll provider, assistance will also be available to fulfill the 6055/56 tax requirement.

Employer Shared Responsibility provisions of the ACA state that applicable large employers must provide adequate and affordable medical insurance to their full-time employees or face a potential penalty. The enforcement of this provision begins on January 1, 2015, for applicable large employers, which is any business that employs 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees. Applicable large employers that do not adhere to this provision can face penalties that vary depending on the violation.

In addition to comprehensive services to address the ESR mandate of the ACA, BeneTrac also offers a number of other Health Care Reform Solutions, including:

Form W-2 Reporting – Employers must report the value of certain employer- sponsored health benefits on employees’ Forms W-2 issued in the current year (if you issued 250 or more Forms W-2 in the prior calendar year). BeneTrac provides calculations of the true monthly premiums, as they were paid throughout the year, thereby avoiding year-end surprises and costly reconciliations. Additionally, the BeneTrac system can: run individual employee aggregate reports, provide a report that can be imported into your payroll system, and aggregate your cost of benefits from employer costs and employee deductions.

Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Rebates – Employers must process and appropriately distribute MLR rebates distributed by health-plan insurers (if you are the policyholder). BeneTrac provides a spreadsheet template, auto-populated with BeneTrac system data, for calculating any rebates, which can then be processed according to the premium-responsibility arrangement.

Declined-benefits Reporting – Employers are required to track any employees who decline the coverage offered and cite the reason (e.g., getting coverage through their spouse, cost of coverage, et cetera). BeneTrac provides a system-generated report to help clients track employees getting coverage from elsewhere, particularly those who obtain a subsidy (tax credit) for coverage on a federal or state health insurance marketplace.

BeneTrac currently works with thousands of brokers and over 600 carriers and data partners to help organizations manage benefits for over a million members throughout the United States. Its software helps HR professionals more efficiently manage benefits online through automatic electronic transfers of employee benefit elections and eligibility information.

Lisa Fleming

Lisa Fleming joined Paychex in 2006 and last year was promoted to the position of public relations manager. As part of her role, Lisa leads the department’s external communications efforts and manages the company’s relationship with its outside PR agency partner, Eric Mower & Associates. Lisa is a graduate of Canisius College in Buffalo, New York where she studied English and Communications.